


A Warm and Familiar Presence

by Serafina360



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Catharsis, Gen, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, hmmmm dealing with death I guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:42:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27766942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serafina360/pseuds/Serafina360
Summary: Off on her own quest during the duration of the war, Ahsoka finally returns to the Rebel base after hearing of their victory. There she finally learns what happened to bring the war to an end.“It’s great to finally meet you, Ahsoka,” Luke said, reaching out a hand. Ahsoka extended hers automatically to grasp his forearm even though she felt caught in a daze of deja vu. Something about him was so painfully familiar to her, though she could have sworn she had never met him in her life.“Leia told me you’re a Jedi, a real Jedi, like Ben!” he continued excitedly but Ahsoka was only half listening, reaching out with the Force.She barely brushed up against his consciousness when the full feeling of his Force presence washed over her like a wave, warm, strong and so very familiar.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 95





	A Warm and Familiar Presence

Ahsoka’s ship pulled into the landing area of the small base and she could already see the small figure of Rex waiting off to the side, his arms crossed and with a broad smile on his face. She quickly powered down the ship and practically bounded down the ramp, waving at Rex who was already making his way closer to the ship. She gave him a quick glance up and down, seeing him in something other than duraplast armor was a change, before pulling him into a massive hug.

“Hey kid,” he said, giving her a tight squeeze, his voice maybe a bit choked up.

Ahsoka pulled away from the hug, resting her hands on his shoulders and beaming at him. “They’re talking about it all the way in the outer rim,” she said. “How the heroic rebels blew up another Death Star and beat the Empire.”

“Heroic, eh?” Rex said. “Did they describe how our dashing figure cut across the sky as well?”

“I’m sure someone’s already writing the holoplays,” Ahsoka said. She searched Rex’s face for any indication that he was joking, that the news was just exaggeration.

“So, it’s true?” Ahsoka said. “The Emperor is dead?”

“It’s true, it’s all true.” Rex said, trying to put on a serious face but still bursting with happiness. “We won.”

Somewhere in the back of her mind she hadn’t really let herself believe the news, after nearly twenty-five years it was too much to hope for. But hearing Rex confirm it finally seemed to be making it real for her. Seeing the smiling faces around her on the landing platform made her realize that finally, finally, they might be nearing the end. But her mind immediately turned to someone else.

“What about-” the name got stuck in her throat. “… Darth Vader? Do you know what happened to him?”

Rex gave her a sharp look and Ahsoka realized that she had never told him what she had learned, had never wanted to burden him with that knowledge. But he looked a little bit too knowing.

“I think there’s someone else you need to hear this from,” he said and with little jerk of his head, indicated that she should follow him into the base as he walked away.

Ahsoka almost shouted after him before she bit the words down. He would have a good reason, even though she was almost vibrating out of her skin. Clearly something had happened. But she hurried after him into the chaos of the base. Like every other Rebel base she had been in, it was loud and chaotic, but now the energy was absolutely electric. Instead of the pressure of hiding, of fighting, of losing, the rebels seemed practically frenetic with relieved celebratory energy. Now, even a week later they were still celebrating.

Rex led her straight towards the information hub in the back. Glaring at a kid who seemed about to tell him he couldn’t be there. The kid immediately backed off, putting his head back down over his data read out.

There were few familiar faces gathered around the holo table. In the years since Ahsoka had left, their ranks had clearly expanded dramatically. But one of the faces was very familiar to her. Her hair was still just as long and braided out of the way on her head.

“Leia!” Rex shouted, “Got a special delivery.” And jerked his thumb back to indicate Ahsoka.

Leia immediately smiled, heading over to greet her. “Ahsoka, you’re back,” Leia said, clearly relieved. “We hadn’t heard from you in so long, I was concerned you might have fallen astray of the outer rim.”

Ahsoka smiled and nodded back. “I’m tougher than that,” she said, half distracted. Something about Leia was different, some change to her presence in the Force. Ahsoka cocked her head and let her senses drift, the feeling was almost something… familiar and different from what Ahsoka remembered of Leia as a child.

“There’s someone else here that you need to meet,” Leia said, and Ahsoka snapped back to the present, automatically smiling at the man Leia was gesturing at. He was a human with sandy blonde hair and an easy smile as he walked up to join their little group.

“My brother Luke,” Leia said.

“Your brother?” Ahsoka repeated, surprised. She had never heard of Bail and Breha having more children and neither of them seemed like the sort to be having wayward kids on the side. It couldn’t have been recent, he was at least as old as Leia.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Ahsoka,” Luke said, reaching out a hand. Ahsoka extended hers automatically to grasp his forearm even though she felt caught in a daze of deja vu. Something about him was so painfully familiar to her, though she could have sworn she had never met him in her life.

“Leia told me you’re a Jedi, a real Jedi, like Ben!” he continued excitedly but Ahsoka was only half listening, reaching out with the Force.

She barely brushed up against his consciousness when the full feeling of his Force presence washed over her like a wave, warm, strong and so very familiar. The same familiar feeling that Ahsoka had felt woven through Leia’s. Ahsoka felt herself falling backwards in time, looking between Luke chattering and Leia, smiling gently, even their faces looked like…

“Oh,” Ahsoka said softly, and her legs gave out under her. She felt Rex shout and make a grab at her arm as she sat down hard on the packed earth floor.

“Oh, Force,” she breathed, staring at Luke and Leia who had both immediately dropped down into a crouch in front of her. Luke looked very concerned. “You’re… Both of you are….” She could barely get the words out. Couldn’t believe that what she was imagining was true. But she could see it now. The curve of Luke’s brow and the quirk of Leia’s lips. The warmth flooding from them through the Force.

Leia gently smiled at her and reached out to hold Ahsoka’s hand in hers.

“You’re Anakin and Padme’s children,” she said, tightening her grip on Leia’s hand. “You were actually born. You survived.”

She could feel Rex crouched behind her, his arm around her shoulders. She could feel tears starting to run down her face. For once in this goddamn war, tears not of sadness, but of happiness.

“For all these years we all thought you’d died with Padme,” she said, reaching out to grab Luke’s hand as well.

She looked back at Rex, then at the two young twins in front of her. They must know who their father became. They must have told Rex.

“What happened to Anakin,” Ahsoka said desperately. “Please, you have to tell me.”

Luke looked at her solemnly. “Rex said that you were close to him, that you were his student. He says that you and Anakin cared deeply for each other so I think you deserve to know.” He paused and Ahsoka braced herself. “Anakin Skywalker is dead. He died on the Death Star.”

“Did you kill him,” Ahsoka whispered, feeling the tears start to stream down her face.

“No,” Luke said, “He didn’t die as Darth Vader. He died as Anakin.”

“What,” Ahsoka said faintly, staring at Luke, everything else falling away in her senses.

“The Emperor was going to strike me down and my father saved me. He’s the one who really killed the Emperor. But he was gravely injured in the process. He died to save me and… the entire galaxy.”

“Thank you,” Ahsoka said, her tears coming even stronger now. She could feel Rex’s arms tight around her shoulders, supporting her as she was feeling all her strength leaving her. “Thank you for telling me.”

She reached forward and embraced Luke and Leia, feeling their arms and their presence in the Force wrap around her.

“I am so glad some part of him is living on in you,” she said. “You would have made Anakin and Padme so incredibly proud.”

Finally, she released them, leaning back and wiping the tears out of her eyes, trying to give both of them a smile. She glanced up and felt her breath catch in her chest.

Standing a ways away, the bustle of the rebellion base threading around him, was Anakin Skywalker. He looked exactly the same as she had last seen him. His longer hair was blowing gently around his face, his arms were crossed, the glove on his metal hand shining and his dark robes perfect without a singe on them. He had a smile on his face, and was looking with pride at all three of them. He caught Ahsoka’s eye and she heard right beside her ear, across the din of the base. “Goodbye, Ahsoka. It was an honour to teach you, my padawan.”

“Anakin,” Ahsoka said softly. “Goodbye.”

He gave one last nod before turning as his image faded away.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic lives among a rich web of headcanons I have about what Ahsoka was doing during the war, but whatever it was, she wasn't near the action. And I'm pretty sure in Rebels she never told anyone about her Darth Vader / Anakin revelations, so Rex didn't know until Luke and Leia told him about what went down on the Death Star.


End file.
